I had a lot to think about when it came to this quick one-off return to the Game to Movie Marathon, as technically if I was doing the Sonic games in order with the films I’d be reviewing Sonic CD here (or really I’d have reviewed CD with the second movie and 2 now, but that would really be confusing!) also given Sonic 3 the movie focuses so much on Shadow would a review of Sonic Adventure 2 make more sense here? I ended up matching 3 with 3 for the sake of nicely matching visuals, but then I had to surrender to my childhood nostalgia and keep 3 separate from “& Knuckles”, which it’s often paired with it (for good reason, don’t get me wrong…) Basically a review of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 to coincide with Sonic the Hedgehog 3, so let’s take a look at another one of my childhood favourites, shall we?
Background:
A fun set piece to kick off the first stage, and the review!
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was infamously rushed to store shelves to tie into a McDonalds toy release and is therefore roughly half a planned game (though I struggle to think all of these levels and all of the “& Knuckles” levels would’ve fit on one cartridge, so I imagine the final product, if they had been allowed to release it, would’ve either featured less content than the two separate halves or have been released a new type of cartridge…) It came out in the US on February 2nd 1994, PAL regions February 24th 1994 and Japan May 27th 1994, an extremely rare “Japan get the game last” situation for the time.
Of course like all of the original quintet of 2D Sonic games it has seen plenty of re-releases, but not as many as 1 and 2 mostly due to issues relating to the music of 3, some of which was originally composed by Michael Jackson and therefore fell into copyright hell. When it appeared on Sonic Origins, the most recent collection of the old titles, it featured new, worse versions of already inferior music that was originally planned for the title, so this is definitely one of the times its best to find earlier copies of the game, unless you really want the 16:9 ratio or something.
Gameplay:
Yeah, there’s an underwater level, but you know what? It’s not bad at all!
Sonic 3 is a great example of a game sequel that builds on top of what came before, featuring the same great gameplay of fast but controllable movement over well designed levels, and lots of enemies to bounce on or spin-dash into. The ring system is still one of my favourite health systems as well, where you collect rings like Mario collected coins but as long as you at least have one ring you won’t die from being hit, your rings will instead spread out across the stage, but if you have no rings and get hit, then it’s game over (with the exception of getting squashed, falling down a pit, or drowning anyway…) Like the last two games (or three if you include CD, which you should!) you face Robotnik in a different machine at the end of each Zone, but this time you also face a mini-boss at the end of the first of the two Acts. You can play as just Sonic, just Tails (who can now hover for a bit by spinning his two Tails) and the two together, complete with co-op where someone controls Tails, though given the camera is always focused on Sonic this is never as fun as it sounds…
New this time is the ability to save your progress in save files (GASP!) and elemental shields: a water bubble that allow Sonic to breathe underwater and give him an extra bounce, a fire shield that gives him immunity to fire and a fiery airdash that destroys enemies, and an electric shield that gives Sonic a second jump in midair and attracts rings to him. This is along with the usual extra life and speed boots pick ups, so it certainly increases the variety. There are two types of bonus stages this time as well, one minor one where you have to make it up to the top of the screen using bumpers while hitting a gumball machine to get powerups and such, and the now-famous “Blue Spheres” stage, where in pseudo-3D you control Sonic to collect only the blue spheres on a stage and avoid the red spheres, which when touched end the attempt immediately. Doing so of course nets you a Chaos Emerald and if you collect all of them you unlock Super Sonic.
Forgot to mention the bumpers along with the two coloured spheres… they bounce you back, in case you didn’t figure that out!
The game also introduced the world to Knuckles the Echidna, though here he just appears a few times to screw Sonic over and laugh while his extremely catchy music plays (if you’re playing the original version…) and that’s it. The rest comes with the “& Knuckles” part, though obviously with that game’s nifty cartridge slot system you can play Sonic 3 as Knuckles, even if it doesn’t actually make sense (though makes more sense than playing 1 and 2 as Knuckles!) There is a Time Attack mode where you have to run from one end of a stage to the other either against an AI or another human split-screen which can be fun.
Overall it may be “half” a package but it’s still full to the brim with returning and new mechanics and systems that make it a blast to play.
Graphics and Sound:
A screenshot where you can hear the music playing in your head… so long as you’ve played the original game!
Nothing bad to say about the graphics, they’re detailed and expressive sprites with equally detailed stages and backgrounds. The kind of 2D sprite work that means it’s still lovely to look at and play today.
Sound-wise, as mentioned, depends on what version your playing, but no matter which one the soundeffects are nice and MegaDrive-y… but yeah, soundtrack is great all round on original, a mix of some returning good and some new not very good in Origins. Not terrible or anything, but not memorable or catchy, just… bland.
Story:
Sonic and Tails chasing Dr. Robotnik in a tiny ball-like machine. Is there a more iconic shot?
After successfully disabling the Death Egg in Sonic 2 the large space station crashes down onto a floating landmass called Angel Island, where Robotnik finds that it’s kept afloat by a large Chaos Emerald-like jewel known as the Master Emerald, and soon finds its guardian: Knuckles, who he manages to convince that Sonic and Tails have arrived on the island to take the Master Emerald for themselves. Our lead duo arrive on the island and get the Chaos Emeralds they still had from the previous game stolen by Knuckles, who then runs off. That’s the story for most of the rest of the game, they go through different areas (or “Zones” I guess!) and get hindered by Knuckles and fend off Dr. Robotnik.
No need for spoilers, it’s not a plot-reliant game, but here’s your warning anyway! Eventually they arrive at the Launch Base where Robotnik is fixing his Death Egg and Knuckles gets knocked off a tiny platform as the Egg relaunches into the sky. Sonic fights Robotnik once again and causes the Death Egg to drop back down into Angel Island, ready for the story to resume all over again in “& Knuckles”…
Thoughts Then:
*sigh* … Another screenshot where I can hear the music… IN MY NIGHTMARES.
I really enjoyed playing Sonic 3, until I got stuck on the thankfully now-infamous rotating platforms in the Carnival Night Zone and used the level select cheat to get past it. I can’t tell you how relieving it was to find out it wasn’t just me who didn’t read the instruction booklet and had trouble when the internet and forums became a thing… Anyway, beyond that, loved it. Not quite as much as 2, but I think that’s because this is more of the same but with some extra bits whereas 2 was like a vastly different game compared to the three slower Sonic games I’d played up to that point (1 and 2 on the Master System, and then 1 on the MD) but you know, more great thing is still great, just doesn’t quite hit the same.
Thoughts Now:
A Sonic Origins screenshot, and our only shot of Knuckles in this review!
Not much has changed. Sonic 1 and 2 (both console versions) have the maximum nostalgia for me, but this and its other half still hold fond memories and still hold up as great 2D platformers. Playing through all the games in Sonic Origins with the new animated cutscenes was really fun but getting to this part with the changed music just felt… wrong, after so many years of playing with the original soundtrack. Still, can’t fault the actual game as it was and still can be if you own an older copy, so for the Origins version just subtract like, half a point from the score below or something…
Hogan Reviews 